Allianz Capital Partners on behalf of Allianz insurance companies (“Allianz”) has signed the acquisition of the 218.8 megawatt (MW) Solara project (“Solara”) in Portugal. Construction works for Solara have already started.
The commissioning of the project is planned for summer 2019.
After the acquisition of Iberia´s first subsidy free solar farm in Ourique, Portugal (“Ourika”) in October this year, Solara is the second investment in a solar project without public subsidies for Allianz.
Solara is located in Southern Portugal, around 230 km south-east of Lisbon. Portugal is one of the leading European countries in producing clean energy with more than 50 percent of energy coming from wind, solar and hydro. Solara will be the largest solar project in Portugal.
With its capacity of 218.8 MW Solara can provide renewable energy for approximately 100,000 average households of the region per year. This would be sufficient to supply a city the size of Porto with energy for one year.
Solara is an important project for the area of Vaqueiros that is recently impacted by declining population. The project will bring economic benefit to the area, and 1,500 people will be employed on site through construction.
Solara has agreed terms for a 20-year fixed price power purchase agreement (PPA).
“Allianz is one of the leading investors in renewable energies in Europe as we aim to lead our industry in integrating ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors into our investment businesses. This is already our second investment in Portugal in the subsidy free area in combination with a PPA. We are delighted to partner again with WElink on this attractive solar project. With our 9th solar investment Solara we will have more than 90 projects in our renewables portfolio,” says Marc Groves-Raines, Head of Renewables at Allianz Capital Partners.
Allianz equity investments in the renewable energy sector amount to 9 solar farms and 83 wind parks located in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and the United States. The wind and solar parks of Allianz generate enough renewable energy to supply over a million households.
Allianz Capital Partners is one of the Allianz Group's asset managers for alternative equity investments and part of Allianz Global Investors. Allianz Capital Partners manages over 56 billion euros in alternative assets for the Allianz Group and third-party investors**. Our investment focus is on private equity, infrastructure and renewable energy. Our investment strategy aims to generate attractive, long-term and stable returns for our clients.
As of March 31, 2023.
